The Sparkle-Lurker Nest
Hello, fillies and colts! If you’re up this late it means you're here for a bedtime story, and I aim to deliver. This is DJ Cerberus broadcasting from club Three-Dog, in the metro under Pineapple Isle. To all you good ponies out there, come over and visit me sometime, and if you have a good story yourself, maybe I'll will read it on air. But now let's get back on track, and get to the show.
Oh and I have a special treat for all of you good listeners. I'm going to start with a story of my own. Yes, dear listeners. Even I the great DJ Cerberus, Bow-wow-wow, has a story of my own, and it's a good one. As you see, once upon a time I was a young dumb mare who who had dreams of glory, and--stop me if you heard this before--it all ends with tears. But let's not skip to the end, as the night is still young and I've yet to finish my pineapple rum.
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The Sparkle-Lurker Nest
By Dice Warwick
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Rhythmically, the train cart chugged along a long dark tunnel, powered by two ponies pushing and pulling a lever. The tunnel itself seemed to only exist where our lights shined onto it, seemingly disappearing into an oppressive darkness beyond our lights.
"Hey boss, these rail lines remind me of you. Old and corroded as fuck, but still working just to spite the natural world." pumping the lever across me was Beat Drop Bass, the biggest pony I had ever seen. Though, he was not much bigger than the rest of us. However, mirage ponies tended to get smaller from the norm, not bigger. Other than that, the stallion was exceptionally normal. Normal around here meant four metal legs, useless small horns and wings, and the tendency to shimmer when overcharged with magical energy. His gray on gray coat and mane nearly blended with his stripes, with the exception of the red streak he’d dyed into his mane. He only really did it because he thought it made him edgy as fuck.
"Oh ha ha. I’d like to see you crack jokes when you're using this rail line to run the fuck back home after you piss yourself scared." Our boss on this expedition was an old ghoul unicorn by the name of Coin Flip, whose face almost seemed ready to just jump off at any time. "Were going in deep, and if there's any big and nasty thing out there, It's going to come looking for us." He had been around from the time just after every pony moved underground, so no story's about the times when things were better. The old ghoul was also known to be one of the best hunters in the metro, only going out a few times a year, but always coming back with some lost treasure or the location of a new punga fruit grove. "Just remember, if you see something big and with claws, let me know." With his magic, he opened up a compartment on his saddle bag, revealing a harsh blue light. "And I'll throw my jar of Twitter-Mites at em!"
"Why do you still have those? You do know, they’re going to be what kills you" Next to me pumping the other lever was Dynamic Daiko Rhythm. The mare had an orange coat that strangely contrasted well with her stripes, and a dark blue mane. One of the more fun ponies to hang with, she was actually the one who got me into the expedition, and had been working with Coin Flip for years. Now, my door didn't swing that way, but I'll admit that I did have a little crush on her. "Hey Cabrette! What does the pipbuck say?"
I tapped on the screen of the pipbuck, and tuned it to the map screen. Coin Flips had given me the pipbuck for the expedition, as I was born with one front left leg. It was nice, because it was one more than most of the ponies from my station had. "Were nearly at the end of the tunnel, just a few more miles."
Daiko shook her head. "Just a few more miles, spoken like a true greenhorn."
"I'm not a greenhorn!" I rolled my eyes.
"Picking cave fungus and punga fruit does not count." Daiko chucked.
Coin Flip cleared his throat, which sounded like somepony had shoved a cat down it, and he was trying to get it out. "Now will you stop teasing the poor girl, you're going to drive her away before we can use her as a meat shield." both Daiko and I glared at Coin Flip. "Okay, no death jokes, but seriously tone it down." The old ghoul took a glance around. "Were currently in no ponies land, isn’t no help coming our way if something happens."
The rhythm of the wheels on the old track persisted as we rolled our way down the tunnel, attempting to lull me to sleep.
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The rest of the rail ride was mostly uneventful, with only the odd attack by the local wildlife, and a rad roach attempting to hitch a ride. Unpacking from the cart, we all double checked our gear, making sure that nothing was left behind. Each of us had our own battle saddle, saddle bag, rebreather, ammunition, and medical supplies.
Attaching my gun to the right side of my battle saddle, I felt confident in myself. The old gun was an AG2. It's not the best of the air guns, but it was cheap and reliable. The others had brought modified AG3's, the air powered shotguns had been given more powerful air-pressure talismans that charged the guns faster than mine. Coin Flip on the other hoof had an AG5, a hunting air rifle that outclassed all of our guns. And to show how much of a successful bastard he was, he had two bits cut in half and welded onto both sides of the rifle in the style of his cutie mark.
Beat patted me on the shoulder with his prosthetic hoof. "Keep an eye on our flank Cabrette, and don't hesitate to shoot at anything that looks threatening. But conserve your ammo, one shot should be enough to kill and scare off the small critters. Also don't fall behind, even a few yards is enough for some of the beasts to come and get you."
I nodded my head. smiling at Beat. "So the normal stuff."
He nodded back at me, smiling. "E'yep, smart-ass."
The hike started out simple, and we pushed onward into the oppressive darkness as we marched in a single file line. Coin Flip at the lead, with Daiko close behind, Beat was next with the biggest bag of the rest of us. Finally, in last was me, keeping any critter from following us.
It never ceased to unnerve me, looking into the darkness. It felt like it was always slowly creeping up on me, devouring the tunnel. Back home we stretch lights as far and wide as we could. From rows of bulbs, long stretches of tubes, and even by talismans, we banished the darkness. Even parts where the light did not go, most of us had a simple light spell talisman to illuminate our way. Here, the darkness ruled, and it was the light that was being banished from the tunnels.
Daiko quietly cleared her throat, sounding a hundred times more elegant than Coin Flip. "So, boss, I know you like your surprises, but what is it we're looking for? If it's just another punga fruit grove, I'm going to make you walk the rest of the rail way home."
Coin Flip chuckled, which still sounded gravelly and sick. "What's wrong with punga fruit, the stuff helps pay off all your debts! But no, well, maybe if we’re lucky. The point of this expedition is more about where we're going." Coin Flip nickered, which also sounded gravelly and sick. "Were heading to the Sparkle-Cola plant. Almost got there around a century ago, but the beasts were thick as rad roaches on shit, so I had to bail before all my crew died."
"And what's changed?" Daiko inquired.
"This time we’re staying underground." Coin Flip boated "Took me a century, and a lot of bits, but I found a route to the plant. No need to worry about paradise dragons, pod plants, and mega rad-boars. As long as we stay in the metro, we should be able to avoid the worst of it."
"Excuse me." Beat spoke up. "I like sparkle-cola just as much as the next pony, but it doesn't seem worth risking our lives to get a saddle bag full of bottles."
"That's where you're wrong Beat Drop." The old ghoul responded. "For you see, that plant didn't just make Sparkle-Cola, but it was also making Sparkle-Cola Rad."
"Annnnnd?" Beat said with a condescending tone, his head tilting as he held onto the word.
Coin Flip sighed. "Other than being the most over sugared soft drink in the world, the stuff was intensely radioactive. The shit glowed, and made your piss glow too. In the early years in our underground homes we'd periodically find the stuff, a bottle here, a stash of the stuff there. It wasn't until they got really scarce that they became in demand, as it turns out, the shit made awesome explosives. But better yet, the wealthy ponies started using the stuff to make glowing muffins, and are sold for a hundred bits each. One bottle is now worth two hundred and fifty bits at the cheapest." Coin Flip chuckled his gravely sickly chuckle.
"Okay, that sounds far better than making ten bits a bottle." Daiko spoke up. "But how is it worth going this deep into the big island? You say we can get around the big beast's an all, but I still remember when a Paradise Dragon dug right into the metro, and on top of a hunter caravan. Like you said, if they smell us, they will come for us."
"E'yep" Beat agreed.
Another sigh came from Coin Flip. "Ye of little faith. The Sparkle-Cola Rad are just the frosting on the cake. The big prize is getting our hooves on the Sparkle-cola recipe. Oh there are ponies who come up with their own Sparkle-Cola, but I've yet found a pony who has made it just right. If they were making the Sparkle-Cola Rad there, they must have had the recipe there for reference."
"And if we got that, then we wouldn't need to keep hunting." Daiko spoke in a hush tone.
"I can see ponies killing each other for an opportunity like that." Beat added.
"That's the idea, we get as much Sparkle-Cola Rad as possible, but the real prize is the recipe." Coin Flip boasted.
I also had something to add, not about the Sparkle-Cola, but about the glowing eyes looking at us from the dark. The eyes were level with my own, but narrow, and smaller. Using my small wing to pull the trigger, I missed, but the beast scattered. "We got company!"
"What was it?" Coin Flip asked.
"I don't know. Probably some mutant animal, maybe as big as us." I shook my head. "There were three of them."
Coin Flip tapped his hooves "Then let's move, were too exposed here." He set off at a faster pace, and we made sure to follow closely.
My heartbeat picked up with our hoof-steps, as though I was running from the darkness, and into more darkness. Every time I took a look back, I would catch glimpses of predatory eyes looking at me, but they were still too far away for my E.F.S. to detect them. The feeling and sounds of things breaking under my hooves drew my eyes down, something I regretted doing. Littering the floor were the bones of ponies who had long died, seeking shelter as the world burned in balefire.
I saw things like this before here on the big island, but mostly just in small piles. Hunters often leaving the two century old bones where they lay, or placing them next to grave markers in a sign of respect. But here, so far away from where hunters normally traveled, the bones were nearly impossible to step around. We had no time to push them out of the way, so we quickly trotted through them, the bones cracking under our hooves.
Placing my rebreather on out of fear of random gas pockets being in the tunnel, I saw Beat and Daiko do the same. "Shit, no pony's been here for what, a century, maybe two?" Beat's voice was slightly muffled by the re-breather.
"Ya, Looks like no pony has looted anything here. You think some wilily hunter would have come out this far." Daiko commented. "You sure this is the right way, boss?"
The old ghoul grumbled. "I got my information from one of the Orthrus Group spooks. Those ponies simply have a lighter step than you lot. Now stop yapping were almost there."
A per the orders from Coin Flip, everypony stopped talking, and we quietly continued down the winding tunnels.
It looked as though we were in a maintenance tunnel, with any rails far behind us, and a maze of pipes surrounding us. Even through our re-breathers we could smell the damp rot and rust, and the periodic clicking from my pipbuck reminding me of the ever present danger of radiation. Worse yet was the writing on the wall There wasn’t much of it, but it was clearly the last words of the scared and angry ponies that were trapped down here. Some of the skeletons shows the telltale signs of suicide, some others were already broken and chewed up. This place made my spine tingle in a bad way.
Coin Flip would check the rooms ahead of us. With him being a ghoul, he didn't have to worry about being attacked by other ghouls and some of the other critters down here. It was an advantage for us, as he would clear rooms of ghouls quickly and quietly. Sometimes by shooting some in the head, or by trapping them in sealed rooms, but most of the time he chose to shoot them. Most ghouls found the act of killing other ghouls as appalling, but Coin Flip saw it as a mercy. It was a deal he had with Daiko, that if he ever went feral, she or some other pony would put him down. It was understandable, as I had heard the stories about some ponies using feral ghouls like guard dogs, and armoring them up. Not a way I would want to spend my un-life.
A small pool of glowing red water sat in front of us, marking that we had made it to our destination. It came from an old rusty pipe, slowly dripping from a leak. The glow was an odd thing to see after spending so much time with the only light source coming from us. Coin Flip, who was standing right next to the pool, then did something that made me cringe. He drank the glowing red water.
"That's definitely Sparkle-Cola Rad." Coin Flip smiled at us, his rotten mouth glowing red.
Entering the maintenance shaft, we headed up into the plant. Each step on the rusted stairs creaked, and I dared not place a hoof on the safety rails in fear of it dropping and calling every monster around. It didn't take long to get to the top, but that was the easy part., The problem was that the door was locked, and the lock itself was rusted. It was odd. In my life most of the old world locks worked just fine, as though the world never ended. This one however, did look like it was two centuries old.
The old ghoul knew his way around a locked door, and his solution to this problem was to simply remove the hinges. Rust zero, Coin Flip one. Though, it did take some extra effort to remove the door, it was far easier than breaking through the lock.
Stepping into the Sparkle-Cola plant, we were greeted the humid air of Marewaii, and the red glow of a Sparkle-Cola Rad bottle. Stopping in front of us, Coin Flip held out his hoof. "Just because we’re here does not mean any of us can get sloppy. We're going to split up into two groups of two, and look for that recipe. Greenhorn you're with me, Daiko and Beat, you two check upstairs." We all put our hooves up as well and nodded our heads.
Daiko and Beat trotted off, bagging the glowing cola bottle on the way. Alone with Coin Flip, I followed as he went in another direction, further into the dark Sparkle-Cola plant.
The room we entered was just as dark as the rest, with only the occasional glowing bottle to add some light. It was easy to tell that this had once been a small office room, with terminals inside of six cubicles. A door was at the end of the room, which looked tightly shut, had its own terminal.
Coin Flip trotted up to the door, and pressed a button. It gave a soft buzz. “Thought so. Cabrette Go check out those cubicles, and see if anything useful is on the terminals. I’ll see if I can hack this door open.” I nodded.
The first desk didn’t have much except two Sparkle-Cola bottles, one of which I opened up and guzzled down. It helped to calm my nerves. The terminal turned on without a problem, Stable-Tec did build them to last. Like the desk, the terminal didn’t have much on it, just a few messages.
Company Announcement
The Sparkle-Cola Corporation is pleased to announce to all it's employees that the first shipments of our Sparkle-Cola Rad® are on their way to retailers in the Marewaii area! This flagship test market program is the culmination of a three year research program to bring the refreshing taste of Rad to market. Congratulations to all employees on a job well done!
Well that was something we already knew, so I selected the next message.
New Flavor Coming!
Attention all Sparkle-Cola Corporation Employees
We are very proud to announce that R&D has been completed on Sparkle-Cola Fusion! With only a minimal loss of life, we've been able to modify the look of Sparkle-Cola but give it the same great taste. We will be submitting the product to Marketing shortly for bottle design and advertising strategies. From all of us in the Research Department, thanks for the support!
Well that was different. “Hey Coin Flip, looks like they made a new Sparkle-Cola here. Not Rad, it’s called Fusion.”
The ghoul was busy working on the terminal. “Well see if you can find anything else on it, might be worth something.”
I checked the next file down.
From: Slippy Step
To: Fizzle Pop
Is it really safe?
I don’t know about Rad. The idea of it I get, having a glowing drink that has more kick to it. Sounds awesome. But using flux to make the stuff seems a bit extreme. I know they say there are no harmful side effects to the stuff, but have you seen Wax On? He is literally glowing now.
Well that’s a problem, stuff like flux was banned in the metro, not that anypony wanted to bring the stuff in. Every now and then the Orthrus Group would put on live demonstrations on why we don’t want the stuff anywhere near us. The demonstrations would consist of them pouring pure flux onto a rad roach, and having everypony watch the bug rapidly mutate before setting the thing on fire. It was simple, effective, and gave me nightmares for a month.
I checked the next terminal, which had the same two messages as before, but the desk did have a bottle of Sparkle-Cola Rad that I pocketed. The third terminal was the same as the last two, but I did score an old pocket watch that could be fixed.
Checking the forth desk I found a few strange oddities. The first was an old glass tank. Nothing was in it but sand and rocks, and the words “my babies” was written on the side. Also the desk had six bottles of Sparkle-Cola Rad, each one had a tag on them, but the writing was too faded to read. I bagged the cola, and checked the terminal, which had one new message.
Just stop it!
This is your fifth warning, stop bring your pets to work. Ponyshoe crabs may be sanitary, but no pets means no pets. No, just because you call them your babies does not mean you can bring them on “take you foal to work day”. Nopony found that funny. No they cannot become our new mascot, even if they you taught them to drink Sparkle-Cola, it’s just weird, and I’m starting to have nightmares. And no, just because you got one of your pets to glow by consuming Sparkle-Cola Rad does not mean we can use ponyshoe crabs for a marketing stunt, that would only cause a riot, not boost sales.
What the fuck was a ponyshoe crab?
The fifth terminal was broken, and had a really old “out of order” sign on it. Checking the desk, it was full of paperwork, and nothing else. The last terminal was working, and had another new message on it. Checking the desk before reading, I scored another Sparkle-Cola Rad and two Sparkle-Cola glass cups with a bottle cap embedded into them. Definitely a collector’s item.
From: Fizzle Pop
To: Slippy Step
Stop worrying.
I’ve talked to the mares down in R&D, and don’t tell anypony this, but ya, it has some side effects. Might be addictive too. They're working on making it safer, just give em a few more months. From how it sounds, when we release Sparkle-Cola Fusion, that’s when we change out the formula for Rad to the safer stuff. So keep your lips shut, and don’t drink too much of the Rad, not until after the Fusion is out.
And Jackpot. “Hey Coin Flip, looks like the Sparkle-Cola Rad is a dead end, needs flux to make the stuff. But the Sparkle-Cola Fusion is probably clean.”
Coin Flip Shook his head. “Shit really. No wonder Tunnel Crawler started glowing red fifty years back. Should have told him to stop drinking that shit.” A soft beep chimed from the door. “And open sesame! FUCK!!” Coin Flip jumped to the side as a Lurker charged in.
The lurker was a monster of a crustacean. It walked on four pincer like legs, two gigantic pincers waved in the air, and a thick shell made it nearly bullet proof. I had seen one before on the surface, but those ones were a light gray were this one was a dark purple, and glowing red at the joints.
The old ghoul popped a shot at the lurkers face… at the Sparkle-Lurkers face. “Shoot the damn thing, Cabrette! Use S.A.T.S. if you need to!” The Sparkle-Lurker lumbered slowly at Coin Flip, holding a claw up to protect its face. “You cheeky bastard!”
The claw didn’t block my line of sight of its face, so I turned on S.A.T.S. and the world slowed to a barely noticeable crawl. The Pipbuck gave me a seventy eight on my chance to hit it face. I took it, selecting four shots, and falling out of S.A.T.S. as the spell resolved. Each of my bullets found their target, but none doing enough damage to take it down. It was at least enough to turn the Sparkle-Lurker’s attention to me.
It lowered its first claw, and raised the other before lumbering in my direction. Big mistake. Another bullet from Coin Flips hunting rifle found a home in the Sparkle-Lurkers face, and the monster collapsed to the floor. Blue blood slowly oozed from its face, creeping me out.
“Is its blood supposed to be blue?” I asked Coin flip.
He shrugged. “As far as I can tell, their blood has always been blue. I’ve heard they make good eating, maybe we should take some meat with us.”
Poking at the Sparkle-Lurker, I looked back at Coin Flip. “I rather not have my saddle bag covered in blue blood.”
Coin Flip chuckled. “Then let’s get going.”
Following Coin Flip, we entered into a large room that had been flooded with glowing red liquid. Luckily the catwalk was still high enough that I didn't have to step into the obviously radioactive stuff. The liquid itself seemed to have come from the large vats that once held the radioactive cola, but were now covered in rust and cracks. All together it gave this place a foreboding feeling of wrongness.
"Greenhorn, eyes up. There's going to be more lurkers about." Coin Flip warned. "There always is."
"Sparkle-Lurker." I corrected.
"What?"
I pumped my magic into my AG2, making sure it was fully pressurized. "Ya know, because they live in this Sparkle-Cola plant, and now have the color of the cola."
The old ghoul smiled, some of his rotten teeth could be seen through a hole in his cheek. "Missy, I like you."
It was not long until my pipbuck slowly started to tick, warning me that the radiation was getting stronger the further inside we went. So I popped some Rad-X for some extra protection, and hoped I didn't walk out of this glowing red.
There were a few parts where the roof above had collapsed, breaking the catwalk, luckily the rubble was above the cola and I could simply go over it with a hop, skip, and a jump. Looking up only reviled that we were probably still underground, the holes giving no natural light. To my surprise Daiko was looking at me through one of the holes, waving. I waved back, and she nodded before dispersing.
"Looks like Daiko and Beat are doing fine up there." I said quietly. "Also, why don't we have telepathy talismans?"
"They get weird here in no ponies land." Coin Flip responded just as quietly. "Hard to explain, probably something to do with the radiation. But the messages sent come out garbled. The worst case I've heard of was when a pony would get the messages, but each time it was from some pony that was not there."
I nodded. "So, what about the radio?"
He shook his head. "Same shit, more dangerous. The magic around here can make a radio go weird." He lifted his pipbuck. "I'd show you, but it'll call every Lurker in this place." Putting his leg down, Coin Flip went back to crouched walking.
It didn't take long to find the next Sparkle-Lurker, though its red glowing joints, and dark purple shell helped it blend it into its surroundings exceptionally well. One, Two, Three shots from Coin Flip's hunting rifle and the confused Sparkle-Lurker was dead. The advantage of an air powered rifle, is that there’s no need for a silencer when the gun makes almost no sound when firing.
Another Sparkle-Lurker was not far from the last, but it wasn’t facing our direction, so Coin Flip could not get a head shot at it. "Cabrette, take a potshot at the pipe to our right." The ghoul whispered as he pointed to the right and a bit above us.
I nodded and took aim. My small wing pressing on the trigger and letting one ball bearing go. PING
The Sparkle-Lurker turned to the sound, pincers raised. Coin Flip got in a lucky shot, and the Sparkle-Lurker stumbled back from getting a ball bearing in the eye. Following up with three more shots, the lurker was dead. "My rifle needs a charge." He levitated his rifle over to me. Nodding, I touched my hoof to the gun, focusing my magic from me to the rifle's air presser talisman. Levitating the rifle back to his side, Coin Flip checked the pressure gauge. "That should do it."
Passing the two dead Sparkle-Lurkers, our safety on the catwalk ended with us now walking through the Sparkle-Cola Rad. My pipbuck protested. Prepared for such treks, my front left leg was well cover with a polymer shoe, and thick rubber legging taken from an old Hazmat suit. A mare had to look after her assets, even if she only had one out of four.
Further in, we found one more Sparkle-Lurker, but this one was bigger, and meaner looking. Its pincers were easily twice as big as the others, and I bet it's shell was thicker too. Coin Flip shook his head. "It's a fucking hunter. It's going to take more than three shot to take it down."
"Can't we just go around it?" An honest question, but one I already knew the answer too.
"No." Coin Flip said flatly, and pointed to the Sparkle-Lurker. "The damn thing is standing right in front of the next door. If there was another way around, it's long gone now."
The only other direction was to go back the way we came, but that might mean we would miss getting something real good. "So we kill it!"
"We do." Coin Flip responded, lifting up his hoof. "But first, wait for me to get a few shots in, we might get lucky if it's weaker than it looks." I nodded.
The first shot to the face and the Sparkle-Lurker was aware it was being attacked. By the second shot the Sparkle-Lurker spotted us. It lowered its head, and charged, making it impossible to hit its face until it closed in. Coin Flip kept his hoof up, waiting for the lurker to get closer, and when it was nearly on us the ghoul dropped his hoof. I opened fire, unleashing the shots as fast as my diminutive little wings could pull the trigger. Coin Flip fired with more precision, aiming at the weak points.
The team attack was enough to confuse the Sparkle-Lurker, its attention divided up between us. Its pincers flailed at us, only inches from striking me in the face. Coin flip used this opportunity to take another shot at the lurkers face. Practically sticking the barrel of his rifle in a wound on the Lurker. I swear I could hear the ball-bearing bounce off the inside of the Sparkle-Lurkers shell before it collapsed.
Looking at the Sparkle-Lurker hunter, I realized how close it had gotten to decapitating me. My body shook, and my breath became shallow and rapid. I tried to calm myself down, tell myself it was over, but my body didn't want to respond.
"Fucking hate fighting the hunter types." Coin Flip wiped some of the blue blood off his face. "The damn things always close the distance." He looked over at me for a few seconds and sighed. "Come here kid." He lifted a hoof and beckoned me over. I just walked over to him, and let him put a hoof around me. He felt weird, nothing like other ponies, more squishy, and rough.
We stayed like that for a few long seconds, maybe a minute. The shaking, and the hyperventilating subsided, allowing me to properly calm down. "Feeling better?" Coin Flip asked, and I nodded. Letting me go, the ghoul checked the pressure on his rifle. "It doesn't get easier, you only learn to control it better, always remember that."
I nodded.
The door the Sparkle-Lurker was standing in front of looked in far better condition than the rest of this place. Charging the pressure on my airgun, I watched as Coin Flip pressed the button to open the door. With a soft hiss, the door slowly opened, disappearing into the wall on its left and right. Fortunately, there were no Sparkle-Lurker standing on the other side, just a red glow. Unlike the room we were in, the red glow was smaller, and individual. Bottles and bottles of Sparkle-Cola Rad.
Coin Flip rubbed his hooved together. "It's a thousand bits for every four bottles at the least, and this is what, a good hundred or more of them." The ghoul trotted in. "Let’s load up and get rich!"
Following him, I quickly began bagging as much Sparkle-Cola Rad that I could reach, the bottles rattling around with each new addition. The pipbucks sorting spell kept all the bottles from moving about in my bag, filling the bag as efficiently as possible.
"Cabrette."
Taking a look at one of the bottles, the bottle cap had a little more detail than the normal Sparkle-Cola cap. I wonder if they were worth anything to anypony.
"Cabrette."
I found an envelope that held a bunch of mint condition posters, this has got to be worth something. I bagged it.
"Cabrette, will you stop scavenging for a moment, and take a look over here!"
My ears turned to Coin Flips direction, and so did my head. Walking over to where he had gone, I entered into a large room. not as large as the room with the vats, but larger than the one I was just in. Also right damn in the middle was punga fruit tree. Most of the time punga fruit grew on little sprouts barely pony height, but sometimes they grew into large trees. Trees that produced a psychoactive hallucinogen! But unlike most other trees, this one was gnarled and black, creeping me out a bit. Stranger yet, the tree had what looked like red glowing veins, and the punga fruit hanging off of it were like mini red lanterns.
Trotting my way over to the tree, Coin Flip stopped me. “Bad idea” He pointed to the ground around the tree. The Punga tree was sitting in a pool of rainbow colored fluid, the same kind of fluid Orthrus used in these demonstrations, flux. “As curious as I am to know how it tastes, I bet that stuff will kill or mutate a pony in one bite.”
“So… we leave it alone, and get back to looting?” I asked.
Coin Flip nodded. “Just make it quick, and I do mean make it quick. Who knows how much more of that stuff is around? I rather not go back with a mare who has grown five tentacle legs.”
That made me shiver. Tentacle legs would be the worst. I quite liked my one normal leg, and my other three mechanical legs were just fine.
Returning to looting, I found three lamps that looked like bottles of Sparkle-Cola Rad and bagged them. Let’s see, a brick of promotional Sparkle-Cola Rad post cards, bagged. Some Sparkle-Cola Rad key chains, bagged. To top it all off, a bunch more Sparkle-Cola Rad all went into the bag.
My bag was starting to feel heavy, which meant I was nearly done looting. There was a bunch more things, but if I took them I ran the risk of slowing down the group. There was one more thing that caught my eye: a tall pony sculpture. It had a shiny dark purple coat, and glowing red… joints… and eyes… and was standing in front of the door. “Hello.” It spoke.
I screamed!
Coin Flip Rushed over to me, his hooves sliding to a stop. “The fuck girl, what’s that matter?”
I pointed to the doorway, but the Sparkle-Pony-Lurker-Thing was gone. “I saw something!”
“Saw what? Use more words!” Coin Flip helped me back on my hooves, I hadn't notice that I had fallen onto my flank.”
Collecting my breath, I quickly looked around, not seeing it. “It was a pony, but it looked like a Sparkle-Lurker too. With all the glow, I did, I did!”
“I was afraid of this.” Coin Flip shook his head. “I took a closer look at the flux pool, poking a poll in it and all that.”
“What did you find?” I asked.
The old ghoul sighed. “Bones. Looks like the Sparkle-Cola staff took shelter in that room, and promptly died there. From my long time in adventuring, the mix of dead bodies, hallucinogenic trees, and flux, are as bad news as you can get.” He put a hoof on my forehead. “Let’s get out of here before you start seeing the dead rise from floor, or oranges jumping around with frog’s legs.”
I nodded. “ya, let’s go. It seemed so real that the hairs on the back of my neck are still freaking out.”
CRASH!
I swung my head over to see that Coin Flip was now on his back on a now broken table. Broken bottles of Sparkle-Cola and Sparkle-Cola Rad leaked their soda all over. I could hear a soft chuckle coming from the other side of me, so I turned my head.
There it was, nearly two ponies tall, hard dark purple shell, its joints and eyes had a red glow. The thing looked like a pony, but was definitely not a pony, with a mane that looked like overgrown fins with red glowing spins. The tail was long, armored, and at the end thin fins much likes its mane folded out on the side. I also got a distinctive “she” feel from it, being curvier than Daiko.
“The words, what are they.” the creature had a two toned voice, one sound like a mare, but the other was like a screeching wail. “Intruders, bunglers, rude. I think those are the words” She stepped around me, her long legs moving her between me and Coin Flip. "Why it has that food comes here. Killing my attendants, taking my treasures, insulting my existence." The monster brought her nose up to my face, and sniffed me. "Fresh, never had fresh before." She tilted her head. "Is this what fresh food dose? Kills, takes, insults? Tell me! You can talk, I heard you talk."
My leg was shaking, my breath shallow and growing rapid. "ye...yes I can talk."
The monster stepped back and giggled. "Oh wonderful! All other that could talk were rotten, tasting terrible. Foreman talks to, but only wants to teach me things, soooo boring. I'd eat him too, but can't eat metal." She clapped her... hooves together. "Oh yes, you can tell me things, things not on the terminals, fun things." She scratched her chin. "Maybe tell me were more food is. Oh! Better yet, did Captain Andromeda finally beat the striped aliens from planet Z?"
I... I was not both confused and scared. "Captain Andromeda? Sorry, I don't know who that is."
The monsters eyes flared with an unnerving red light. "You don't know! How could you not know?" She got back on all fours, and slowly, taking small steps, back up to me until our faces touched. "The Captain is the greatest hero ever. If you don't know her." Her eyes looked me over intently. "You’re looking mighty stripy." her head pushed against mine, and I slowly backed up. "Oh how foolish of me, and here I thought I found some reasonable food to talk to. But you're just a stripy stripe. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Too close, she was just too close. "I... I..."
"I, I, I, WHAT!" the monster shouted in my face. "I know what I should. What I should have done at the start. I'll eat you, drink you, and make you into fizzy cola!" The eyes burned red, and my head felt like something was in my head, trying to get out.
"Bitch! Captain Andromeda been off the air for over two centuries." Coin Flip collided with the monster and they both landed on another table. Promotional items went flying, among them were hats that looked like old military caps. The purple caps had a metal plate on the front, displaying the logo for Sparkle-Cola Rad. One of the caps fell on the Pony-Lurker's head, obscuring her face a little, which only made her more frightening to me. The old ghoul pushed himself out from under a box of bottle caps that had spilled all over him. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE KID!"
I didn't need to be told twice, and I ran. Splashing into to red glowing cola water, I paid no mind to my pipbucks clicking, or how I managed to splash myself with the radioactive cola.
"NO YOU DON'T!" I nearly fell over when Coin Flip slid past me, splashing me with even more radioactive cola. "YOU STAY!" Suddenly something hit my head, my ears ringing like they never rang before, and my head felt like it was trying to split open.
I could hear the monster stepping into the cola, with each step splashing as though she was announcing her anger with her hooves. The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly jumped up, and I quickly rolled to the side, completely soaking me in the glowing cola. It sounded like a shriek, but whatever it was, it hit where I was with a splash. Turning to look at the monster, she still had the hat on, it tipping to the side were her fin like mane was not hanging. A fang filled grin was on her face, and a dagger like stare looked down at me. The hairs on my back were freaking out again and I jumped back. This time I saw were the shriek was from. Somehow, the monster was shooting sonic waves at me.
"You think you can escape me! You think you are not my food! She got closer faster than I backed away. "It would be best if you forgot such notions, and just stay there and let me eat y.." Blue blood flew from the monsters cheek, the steel ball from Coin Flips rifle only grazed her, but it was enough to catch her off guard.
"You like that, why don't you try another!" Coin Flip fired another shot, and the monster put a hoof up to protect her head. Stumbling over, with blue blood leaking from her hoof, the monster cried out in pain. Taking aim, Coin Flip readied his rifle to finish off the monster. "Die, Abomination."
Coin Flip was tackled from above, making his shot miss. On top of him was another monster, much like the last one, but closer to pony sized. Another difference was that it's fin-like mane was much shorter, and stayed straight up. Along with that, it's eyes were a solid red. I fired my air gun at the monster, ball bearings smashing into it as it futility attempted to block them. After the thing fell back dead, I rushed over to Coin Flip, and helped him up.
That when I heard the sounds of something above me. A lot of something in fact. Looking up, I could see many pairs of red glowing eyes looking back down at me. I dared not count how many of them their was, but I could see that they were coming out of the holes in the vats, and some of them the size of foals. My vision became fuzzy, reminding me of the sonic attack that hit me earlier. "Coin, we got to run, like right now!"
Coin Flip pushed himself up, and joined me in backing away slowly. "On three we run."
"One." The new monsters descended from the vats, splashing the water, and looking at us as some sort of curiosity. They didn't surround us, but they were following our movements.
"Two." A bunch of the larger Lurker-ponies gathered around the first one, forming a wall of them. She was still far bigger than them, her head far above them. It made it easy for us to see her glaring at us with hate.
"THREE!" We bolted, and the Lurker-Ponies followed. Luckily we had gotten to the catwalk before the lurkers had gotten to us. With solid metal under our hooves, we bolted toward the exit, not looking back. Sadly the Lurker-Ponies were waiting for us, and had closed the door, trapping us in.
"What do we do, what do we do?!" my hooves frantically tapped on the ground, ready to bolt in another direction.
Coin Flip sighed. "Sorry, Cabrette."
The Lurkers quickly surrounded us, with no place for us to go, they just stared. I shook my head in frustration. "No, no, no! We need help. Daiko and Beat should be around!" Coin Flip opened his mouth, I knew what he was going to say, telling me to let them get away, that it was too late for us. I didn't want to hear it. "HELP! DAIKO, BEAT, HELP, HELP US. HELP!"
"Such loud food, such annoying food. This is no good, no good at all." The Sparkle-Lurker... Queen, chuckled. "I'll have to fix that. But first I'll have to add, add,-" she rotated her hoof. "-seasoning is the word. Yes, I'll have to add seasoning." One of the other lurkers gave a jar of rainbow liquid to their queen, her holding it on top of her hoof.
"Just let us go." I cried out.
The Sparkle-Lurker Queen grinned, her fangs sharp and white. "No, I don't think I will." She tossed the jar at us, it sailing through the air, seemingly homing in on us.
Coin Flip shoved me behind him, and took the full hit of flux. "Kid stop panicking, and get out of here." He pointed up, and I could see Daiko and Beat looking down at us. Dropping a rope for us, it landing at our hooves. I quickly tied it to myself, I took the extra length, and hoofed it to Coin Flip.
The old ghoul didn't take the rope, instead he attached his gun to my bag, and took mine. "What are you doing?"
"Gi'ing you time to get away" His face had fallen off, leaving a skull with eyes, and a tongue. "Now git!" He looked up at the others and shouted. "ULL THE ROHE!"
With a sudden tug, I was lifted into the air. Some Lurkers made attempts to jump at me, but Coin Flip shot them before they could reach me. Lurkers that got too close to the ghoul got smashed in the face with my air gun. I watched as it didn't take too long for him to be overwhelmed.
Holding down the ghoul, the Sparkle-Lurker Queen looked up at us, at me dangling in the air, out of reach. "GIVE ME THE FRESH FOOD, AND YOU CAN HAVE YOUR ROTTING BACK." There was a momentary pause, a pause that was interrupted by laughing. It was Coin Flip, looking at the Lurker Queen with his skinless face, and laughing. "What so funny?"
"Your negotiation skills, that's 'what's funny. That and." His horn glowed with his magic.
"That and... what?" the Lurker Queen asked confused.
With his magic, he lifted out his jar of twitter-mites. The blue light harshly drowned out the red glow. "That and I have a jar of twitter-mites!" Smashing the jar on the side of the catwalk, the thunder bugs swarmed out, their buzzing filling the air, and making every hair on my skin raise up in protest.
"WHAT IS THIS? WHAT DID YOU DO!?" cried the Lurker Queen.
Beat pulled me out of the hole right before the sound of a loud zap filled the air. I attempted to take a look to see what happened, but Beat held me back. "No time for that Cabrette, we’re bugging out now!" With a shove, I was now running behind Daiko with Beat closely pushing me from behind.
We rushed through a hallway, having to jump over a Mr. Hover that was painted in the Sparkle-Cola colors. Practically flying down a stairwell, and sliding down some wreckage, we arrived where we first had split up. Daiko stopped for a quick moment, making sure we were behind her. With a wave of her hoof, she was off again.
The old rusty stairwell sounded like it was ready to fall apart as we ran down it, with some of the safety rails falling off, and crashing down below. Not even taking the time to carefully go around obstacles, we jumping over the pool of Sparkle-Cola Rad, and smashed through the skeletons.
After making some time, my chest felt like it was on fire, and my head was showing how bad a migraine can be. Looking back, Daiko stopped to take a look at me. I almost smacked into her, and Beat slid to a stop, almost colliding with us. "Shit, take a healing potion before you pass out." He said, passing the bottle over to me. I greedy choked it down. All the pain didn't go away all at once, but it quickly became more bearable. Daiko passed me another healing potion, and I drank it, making everything felt even more bearable. "So... WHAT THE FUCK WERE THOSE THINGS!" I could feel the anger and confusion in her voice, as well as some concern.
I took a little time to catch my breath, my heart still pounding like a large drum. "Mutant Lurkers... I think, maybe." I took a deep breath. "I don't know, but they looked like the Lurkers that were there, that's all I know."
Beat put his hoof on my shoulder. "This is not the time for questions Daiko, we need to keep moving. When we’re on the cart, then you can berate her with questions."
Daiko sighed, and nodded. We returned to traveling down the path we had come from, with one less pony in the group. There was no chatter, no stopping to take a look at things, nothing but three quiet ponies, heading back home. It was an odd thing, following our own hoof prints. It made me wonder how long it would be until some other pony follows our hoof prints to the Sparkle-Cola plant, and if they might find Coin Flip alive.
The eyes returned, still behind us, and I would periodically take a shot at them with Coin Flips rifle. I think I killed one, but that didn't seem to deter the other eyes from following. At the very least, they were staying back more than last time.
When we were nearly at the cart, we heard a loud shriek from behind us. The eyes were gone, probably attacked by a bigger predator. This only made us move faster, hoping to get to the cart before one of us become that something’s next lunch.
Seeing the cart, the three of us broke out into a sprint, jumping onto the thing, and placing our saddle bags in the container compartment. Taking off my battle saddle, I noticed that one of the promotional hats for Sparkle-Cola Rad had snagged itself to the battle saddle and been pulled out of my bag. Putting on the hat, I sighed. It was a piss poor trade for a pony’s life.
Sitting next to Daiko, I could feel her anger. If she hated me I'd understand. "I told the fool that holding onto a jar of twitter-mites would kill him" Daiko said as she shook her head.
"When we get back to Charon's Stop, let’s have a toast to the old adventurer." Beat had finished packing, and sat from across from us.
"I'm... I'm sorry. It's my fault he didn't make it out." I said, lowering my head.
Daiko pushed down the lever, and we began to move slowly. "I got to thinking, on our way here I mean. I came to the conclusion that the old fool killed himself. Don't be sorry about it." She patted me on the shoulder. "Death is something that happens out here. Coin Flip simply kept on living past his own death so long ago. So don't feel sorry, he died how he wanted to live."
"Throwing a Jar of twitter-mites at something he shouldn't be messing with." Beat said, but daring not to add anything to his statement as Daiko glared at him.
Looking past Beat. I could see some light, and an ever so faint... red... glow. "Fuck, they're not dead!"
Daiko leaned up to get a look, and Beat turned around. It was only a glow, but I knew. I knew it was a Sparkle-Lurker. Looking through the scope of Coin Flip's rifle to get a better look, the lurker lit up. It was the Sparkle-Lurker-Queen, with Coin Flips pipbuck on her leg. Behind her were other pony like Sparkle-Lurkers, all staring in my direction. The other two went to work on the levers, picking up the carts speed, and putting distance between us and the lurkers.
_______________________________
There were a few critters that attempted to get onto the cart as we moved, but Coin Flip's rifle made short work of them. "So, did you get anything good down there? You know before... well, you know." Daiko was still dejected, but the break in the silence was comforting.
"Got a ton of Sparkle-Cola Rad, and a bunch of Promotional stuff for the cola. Got to be worth a lot of bits. What about you?" It was a good haul, but would have been better with Coin Flip here to share in it.
"We found a formula for something called Sparkle-Cola Fusion, and a bunch of Sparkle-Cola Rad." Daiko's voice sounded unsure, but she quickly gained a look of resolveon her face. "Might start making my own Sparkle-Cola, get out of the hunting business."
"You better share in that business venture, I'd like to retire from hunting too." Beat smiled, now being the only one pushing the lever.
"Right, right. I will need some ponies I can trust." She glanced in my direction. "What about you, Cabrette?"
I thought about it for a moment. "Well it does sound like a safer business. Maybe I could help out a little."
Daiko hugged me. "That's the spirit! I see a bright future for us." Then the lights went out, and we were smothered in darkness. "The fuck is it this time!"
It was not all dark, a faint red glow allowed us to see. I could just barely make out Daiko's face, but she was looking right at me, confused. "Is there one of those monster behind me?" She shook her head, and took off my hat. The red glow became a little bright, not by much, but enough that I could see Beat now. It was my hair, it was glowing Sparkle-Cola Rad red. The gray stripes were still there, but it was fucking glowing now. I quickly checked my tail to find that it was glowing red as well. It must have been that jar of flux, and that I was soaked in that glowing cola. I looked back at Daiko in panic. "What do I do, what's happening, what..."
Daiko poked me on the head. "We'll get to a doctor as soon as we can, but nothing else looks wrong with you, so calm down."
Taking a deep breath, I decided to push at the lever to help calm me down. Daiko hadn't gotten the light back on yet, but she was using my mane to help her work on the thing. Looking around, the darkness felt different now, it still tried to devour the light, but under the red glow I felt that at least it seemed weary of me.
The light came back on, and Daiko returned to her seat. "You can put your hat back on nightlight. Heh, nightlight." And now I have a nickname based on what I could assume was a mutation. My joy was overflowing, so much so that I wanted to throw myself in front of the cart.
_______________________________
The Sparkle-Lurker Nest
By Dice Warwick
_______________________________
And that's how I became a bucking princess... ok, ok, I didn't turn into a princess, but luckily my hair glowing was the only thing that came from the mutation. The Doc said I was lucky, most ponies get a good helping of cancer and tentacles when exposed to flux. After that, I decided to own the glowing mane and tail thing. It made me real popular at parties... Don't do chems, foals.
As for the others, well they went into the cola business, and I helped. It was a rough start, but things worked out in the end, and we all made a fair share of caps selling Sparkle-Cola Fusion. Sadly it never sold as well as we wished, and we all had to move onto new ventures. After some time I became the DJ you all know and love, giving you good music, and news.
Now if you ever decide to go looking for that stash of Sparkle-Cola Rad, forget about it. The Orthrus group went and checked the place out, and said it had been completely cleared out. The Sparkle-Cola Rad, the flux, the lurkers, all gone. But they did find Coin Flip and brought him back so that we all could put his body to rest. So to any hunters out there, if it glows red, you can do us all a favor and shoot it for me.
Now, before I turn in for the night, let’s have a word from one of our sponsors. Are you feeling low on energy? Life's got you ragged, and you just need a boost to get you thru the rest of your day? Well then, drink Lurker Blue energy cola! Filled with so much energy that you might just fly. Look for the glowing blue bottles at your local stores today, and remember, if it isn't glowing, it isn’t fresh.